Mary Mackie (née Kathleen Mary Whitlam, born early 1940s) is an English writer of over 70 fiction and non-fiction books since 1971. Work of hers has been translated into 20 languages. She is known especially for light-hearted accounts of life looking after a country house for the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Life

Mary Mackie was born in Lincoln during the Second World War, as the older daughter of Charles William Edward Whitlam, and his wife Kathleen. The family lived on Carholme Road until 1959 when they moved to North Hykeham, south of the city. Mary began writing stories, poems and playlets (unpublished) at the age of eight. She was educated at St Faith's Primary and Junior School and Lincoln Christ's Hospital High School, leaving at 16 with six "0" levels. She worked for a time as an accounts clerk with an insurance company. Later, she joined the Local WRAF and worked in the Accounts section at RAF Waddington, where she met her future husband. Early in her marriage to RAF Sgt Christopher Mackie, Mary and her family spent some time stationed at RAF Gatow, in Berlin (a city then still divided by the Wall), and later in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, where she wrote her first full-length novel. She was first published in 1971. Chris retired from the RAF as a warrant officer and they settled into civilian life near Lincoln. Mary Mackie now lives at

Heacham Heacham is a large village in West Norfolk, England, overlooking The Wash. It lies between King's Lynn, to the south, and Hunstanton, about to the north. It has been a seaside resort for over a century and a half. History There is evidence o ...

near

Hunstanton Hunstanton () is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash, making it one of the few places on the east coast of Great Britain where the sun sets over the sea. Hunstant ...

on the

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

coast of England. Her husband had been evacuated there during the Second World War, at the age of 10, and they returned to the village in 1990. The couple had two sons and there are now four grandchildren. Mary Mackie continues to write.http://www.stillscribbling.co.uk/index.html ; blog site

Retrieved 19 November 2013. Her husband, a keen amateur archaeologist, was associated from its inception in 1996 with the

Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project The Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP) is a long-term, multidisciplinary research project based in north-west Norfolk, United Kingdom. It is involved in the investigation of the local history and archaeology, with a st ...

. Mackie's biography of him, ''Chris'', appeared in 2013. He died in August 2014.

Work

Mary Mackie's books ''Cobwebs and Cream Teas'' (1990), ''

Dry Rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...

and Daffodils'' (1994) and ''Frogspawn and Floor Polish'' (2003) are light-hearted accounts of life in the North Norfolk

property

Felbrigg Hall Felbrigg Hall is a 17th-century English country house near the village of that name in Norfolk. Part of a National Trust property, the unaltered 17th-century house is noted for its Jacobean architecture and fine Georgian interior. Outside i ...

, where her husband was houseman (administrator) for seven years up to 1990. Another non-fiction book of hers that attracted notice was ''The Prince's Thorn'' (2008), about Louisa Mary Cresswell (1830–1916), whose autobiographical ''Eighteen Years on

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

Estate'' by "The Lady Farmer" (1887) was bitterly critical of Edward, Prince of Wales and his circle. However, Mary Mackie's new researches, including two days spent working in the Royal Archive at Windsor, proved that there was a different side to this story. Having written a commissioned history of

Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS) is the nursing branch of the British Royal Air Force. It was established as the Royal Air Force Temporary Nursing Service (RAFNS) in 1918, and became part of the permanent establishment ...

entitled ''Sky Wards'' (2001 revised edition ''Wards in the Sky'', 2014), Mary Mackie wrote a short illustrated book for the Highlanders' Museum in

Ardersier Ardersier ( gd, Àird nan Saor) is a small former fishing village in the Scottish Highlands on the Moray Firth near Fort George, between Inverness and Nairn. Its name may be an anglicisation of the Gaelic "Àird nan Saor", or "Headland of the j ...

, Scotland, entitled ''Hunstanton's Highland Heroes''. It tells how soldiers of the

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders or 79th (The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1793. It amalgamated with the Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Al ...

were headquartered in Hunstanton while training for active service in 1915.Bookseller's detail
Retrieved 7 September 2018.
/ref> Mackie's historical novel ''The People of the Horse'' (1987), about Queen

Boudicca Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...

of the

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...

, was translated into Czech and Hungarian. Three more, set in Victorian Norfolk, were ''Sandringham Rose'' (1992), ''A Child of Secrets'' (1993) and ''The Clouded Land'' (1994).Retrieved 18 August 2014.
/ref> Some of her earlier romantic novels were written under the pseudonyms Cathy Christopher, Alex Andrews, Cathy Charles and Caroline Charles. Books of hers have been published in twenty languages.

References

External sources

Mary Mackie, 20 July 2012
at eagleeyededitor.wordpress.com
A review of ''Cobwebs and Cream Teas'', Retrieved 19 November 2013.
at plaingeets.wordpress.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackie, Mary Living people People from Lincoln, England English women novelists 21st-century English women writers People from Heacham British romantic fiction writers Women romantic fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)